Vanity plates: Virginia leads the nation

Good morning folks! Get cut off by an angry motorist with license tags reading “LOVEME” this morning?

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Fall in love with Maveryk. (Source: Flickr, Huebner Family Photos)

A good 16 percent of Virginia motor vehicles have vanity plates, the highest in the nation, according to a study by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. And some say, that may correlate with aggressive driving.

Drivers with vanity plates, bumper stickers or other “territorial” signs were more likely to honk, tailgate and display other signs of aggressive behavior, according to a study by the Journal of Applied Psychology. Perhaps that’s why the DMV has the worst drivers.

Or are vanity plates a mating call? Virginia is for lovers, after all. In a study on vanity plates, Erik Craft, an associate professor of economics at the University of Richmond found the percentage of those who had vanity plates increased by .8 percent from the age of 25 to 34 — people get desperate with age. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Craft theorizes some people have personalized plates to attract mates:

After all, he says that's why he owned plates when he was single that said "SVEV," a reference to a sensual Swedish folk dance that he hoped would get the attention of Scandinavian women. After he married, he took the plates off his car.


Nationwide 9.3 million motor vehicles have vanity plates — New Hampshire and Illinois trailed Virginia. Texas came up dead last with .56 percent.

Practicality and pricing though are probably what actually contributes to the rate. In Virginia and D.C., the renewal rate is $10 a year, in Maryland it’s $25 — Texas though, charges $30 to $60 a year.

 

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